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Incumbents booted from Jersey City school board after years of dysfunction
By
Michael Sol Warren
Published Nov 4, 2026 at 12:35 p.m. ET
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Kena Betancur/Getty Images
By
Michael Sol Warren
Published Nov 4, 2026 at 12:35 p.m. ET
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A quartet of political outsiders swept Jersey City’s school board election on Tuesday, taking a majority of seats governing a school district with a roughly $1 billion budget and 26,000 students.
This year’s election brings the biggest swing in power on the school board in more than a decade with the powerful Jersey City Education Association teachers union losing control of the board after years of dysfunction.
For Stronger Schools, a slate of outspoken parents who have been critical of the current board and district leadership, won the three full-term seats and the single one-year-term seat that were on this year’s ballot. They had the backing of multiple progressive city leaders as well as a groundswell of parents.
Jessica Taube, Danielle Walker and Chloe Williams won the full-term seats, according to unofficial results. Gina Verdibello, who has previously served on the board, won the one-year term.
The four candidates held commanding leads with about 94% of voting districts reporting. Taube, Walker and Williams each had at least 10,000 votes more than their competitors. Verdibello secured more than half of the votes for the one-year-term.
For Stronger Schools ousted three incumbent board members — Dejon Morris, Alpa Patel and George Blount — who were running along with Vanessa Rodriguez on the Education Matters slate.
Critics and opponents blamed incumbents, especially Morris, for hostile board meetings, tensions between the board and parents, and a ballooning tax burden on residents. This year the board approved a $1.1 billion budget that included a roughly 14% tax hike, and extended Superintendent Norma Fernandez’s contract, which made her the highest paid superintendent in the state.
“People wanted change,” Taube said Wedensday. “We were the slate for change, and we're going to bring change.”
There are two current board members — Tia Rezebala and Lorenzo Richardson — who ran under the For Stronger Schools banner in recent elections. When this year’s winners are seated in January, the faction will hold six of the school board’s nine seats.
The winners said their first focus after being sworn-in will be the district’s budget.
“Figuring it out and digging into it, see what works, what didn't work,” Verdibello said.
Ron Greco, the Jersey City Education Association president, said Morris’ actions in particular made it clear that change was needed on the board, citing the arrest of a parent at a school board meeting earlier this year as an example. Morris was listed as the complainant on police reports. The charges against the parent were later dropped. Morris has previously defended his approach to running meetings, saying he balanced the public's right to speak with keeping order.
The union had backed Leadership That Listens, made up of Videsh Bahadur, Fernando Garcia, Julietta Vogt and Zebedayo Masongo. Vogt was an aide to County Executive Craig Guy, but the Hudson County Democratic Party — which got hammered in last year's municipal election — didn't officially endorse a slate.
The last time there was a this big of a shift on the school board was in the early 2010s, when a faction backed by then-Mayor Steve Fulop took control of the district and was frequently at odds with the teacher’s union.
Greco said he doesn’t expect a repeat of that dynamic. He said he’s optimistic that the union and the new For Stronger Schools majority will be constructive partners.
“I wish our people won, but I'm not sad. I'm not dejected walking around,” Greco said. “I think that they're going to work well because they have a vested interest in the school system.”
Taube and Verdibello said they plan to sit down with the union as they prepare to take office.
“ We've kept a very positive relationship with union leadership,” Taube said.
Mayor James Solomon, who did not publicly endorse any slate but did say he wanted the incumbents voted out, congratulated the For Stronger Schools candidates on their win.
“Jersey City families want change in our public schools — responsible spending and academic excellence,” Solomon said in a statement. “As a public school parent — those are my priorities too.”
Tagged
Politics
education
new jersey
Michael Sol Warren
Michael Sol Warren covers New Jersey for WNYC and Gothamist, and previously reported on issues around the Garden State for NJ Spotlight News and NJ Advance Media. He can be reached at [email protected].
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